“GALION — A veteran Galion police officer will return to work later this week after pleading guilty to dereliction of duty.

John Bourne, who has been on the force for seven years, pleaded guilty Thursday in Crawford County Municipal Court. He received a suspended 30-day jail sentence, was placed on non-reporting probation and ordered to pay court costs.

He pleaded guilty as charged to a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

Bourne was accused of stealing money from a resident during an arrest. He has been on paid administrative leave since Aug. 14.”

Commenter’s in defense of their friend (Mr. Bourne) appear don’t like the fact they believe stealing and dereliction of duty being the same thing as this article is not clear may suggest. You have to love the craftiness of the MNJ and their writing skills.

What confuses me as it appears does those who are commenting, is stealing a form of dereliction of duty? The article says the man admitted to guilt of dereliction of duty, but does not say what dereliction of duty was. Then goes on to say after he pleaded guilty to a 4th degree misdemeanor that he was accused of stealing, nothing else? This would leave me and others who read this that he was guilty of theft, nothing else? I for one IF he was guilty of theft have a hard time thinking he could ever be effective or trusted by the public again? I believe once you lose the publics trust, you lose everything!

Just what does an officer say like this say if and when you are caught stealing by him? No big deal, it’s just one of Gods 10 commandments, so I’ll take you in, pay your fine, all is good, right?

What a terrible shame this article is!Yet another deceitful article written to slander an honest officer who made an honest mistake. Not only are you dragging this good man’s name through the mud, Mr. Caudill, but you are also wreaking havoc on Office Bourne and his family…all simply for a paycheck. It may come to pass one day for you, and probably even for the author of the former article (Ms. Durbin), that you may be in a situation in which Officer Bourne would be someone who would come to your aid in a time of need. By the way, despite the fact that you have slandered his name, he is the kind of man of integrity who would still help you in a time of need regardless of what you have done to him. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Yes, there are indeed crooked cops out there…all over the place…but Officer Bourne is not one of them.

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…”
–John 8:7

I stand alongside Officer Bourne. He is a man of integrity, one whose character has only grown even more for the better over the past twenty or more years in which I have known him.

The sad part of this is that many in the media industry these days would be more than willing to wreck the lives of their own family if doing so would result in a nice paycheck. “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

Those if you reading this, please think about this for a moment: Why would a man risk his career and his reputation over a sum of money less than $200? That amount of money is not even a sufficient payment for most utility bills these days!

Simple question.. What was the dereliction of duty? I don’t want to accuse the man of something he didn’t do, but obviously he did something wrong…otherwise there would not have been the dereliction of duty charge. What was it? Unless that is made clear, it appears as if the Galion police are sweeping it under the rug. If the “mistake” was taking money… it wasn’t a mistake. It was theft. If it wasn’t taking money, what was it then?

People simply amaze me, those of you that are implying that Officer Bourne is a crooked cop know nothing about this mans character. It was never proven that he was guilty of taking the money, he pled guilty to dereliction of duty not theft. Please know the situation completely before you start to judge a persons character. To make a mistake is to be human and I can bet that some of you have done things that are worse. John Bourne is an upstanding cop and does his job better than probably the rest of us do at our own. For the one who wrote this, please check your english, my teenage daughter can write better then this.

This story is not right. Look the facts up none of these are right. He was never charge they dropped them. He would not have his job if he got charged right??? Last I checked cops get charged for thieft they loose there jobs.. So YES he would been fired on spot if the money was stolen.. Which is why he still has his jod. This why this paper fails simple because they do not do there homework right.. So go get the right story and repost it again. So all you thst say bad thing about him there your also wrong. He is a great cop and wonderful to the public. For that fact a great friend of mine that I would take bullet for if i ever had to for he can return to his kids at night for they can have a father.. Also Jessica Bourne is right about the car wreck.. He worked that long so who now to blame for him for taking one for the team. . He did pull back to back 12 I do know that for a fact.. Really people do need to get a life because a great cop would never put the life on the line.. Also if you want to talk trash about him you may want to talk to someone that has come across gim in rhe 7YRS on the job.. Hes fair, hes stand by his word, great family man, great friend most diff in the times i needed him the most.. So the news Journal will be getting a call from me for sure to get this right.. WOW let drag him theu some more mud and hurt the one of the greatest cop I have ever met and been friends with.. Another note the paper only runs and writes what they want to hear and not the the truth or just some of it.. This paper is a joke and always have been.. Now I know why I dont buy it. Also to the public that post something about him how many of you know him or met him. And oo yeah call him in your time of need.. He comes bails you out of trouble or helps you. O Yeah next time you need the cops dont call them then if you nothing but bad to talk about the good ones that does there job right . So go look at your facts also.. Officer John Bourne You are a great cop dont let anybody tell you different and im glad to call you a friend and have you as a friend.. Thank Your for Serving And Protecting this town even when no one else has your back and stands next to you even in your time of need. I will always be there no matter what for you so I really mean it i would take a bullet for the fine officer for he can return home to his wife and kids and be proud of it. As for this paper go do your homework now and take and fix this and also need to write a sorry across the front page.. Tha ks for nothing news journal but dragging him thru the mud again like your good at..

Great cops would not put there life on the line for something stupid like stealing money to loose there jobs that they worked so hard for. so look i can join the paper and just be like them i messed up and spelled things wrong hahaha….

Seriously? We’re still reading articles about this? Shouldn’t we be informed of more important things? Like I dont know, Syria? or perhaps our troops still over in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or how about how thousands of legal americans are out of work, homeless, and starving? What about something positive in the media for a change? Its sad when Americans have to watch shows that are satires of actual news channels just to get accurate and important news. There are more important things in this country that are article worthy than this already dead horse. So how about we stop beating it further, let Officer Bourne go back to doing his job, and leave him and his family ALONE! Personally I don’t go around judging people on how they do their jobs (one of the reasons we have managers) and I certainly don’t tell others how to do theirs (with the exception of this). We all make mistakes, thats why its called a mistake. Next time an article like this comes out whoever publishes it better make sure they double check their facts.

Its also sad that people feel the need to slander a man, a human being, just like you and me, for just reading the headline. Lets just reflect on some of the moments where an officer has risked their life. Now replay that scenario only excluding any officer. How do you think it would have turned out?

Why do people believe anything the media says? I think it’s shameful that the media will air or print things such as this, and make it look a lot worse than it really is, just to sell papers. I would choose to believe a Police officer, over a drug user. Shame on the press!

I am reading through some of these comments and I’m thinking why is it okay to call someone (who you dont even know) such things. The officer plead guilty to dereliction of duty…. So this doesnt mean he is pleading guilty to stealing anything. This article is twisting a small incident into some big time scandal trying to make a buck without a care about the people who are involved in the situation. This type of reporting is best left for celebrity stories of Hollywood not a small town officer who puts his butt on the line to protect people.

Dereliction of duty is not the same as pleading or being found guilty of the crime, how about we get educated and stop being mindless sheep. Officer Bourne is a great cop and puts his life on the line everyday so that you all can continue being ignorant to everything. Also id like to see one of you who are slamming him to put your life on the line like him instead of bashing people. And to this news journal, and i use that term lightly, you should be ashamed for publishing not only one but TWO slanderous articles against him. This kind of journalism is why there is so much negativity towards police who should be praised instead for doing what they do.

More propaganda and slander. The whole story isn’t even being published here. Only the side that the media wants to put out, which is a lot of twisted facts. This is sad beyond belief, and yet you all jump straight on the bandwagon to condemn someone. I have no doubts about the corruption, but it’s not who’s being blamed. John Bourne for as l have known him has shown and proven himself to be a man of integrity and honesty. He’s one of the few good officers that you have on the force, and for that he’s been the one having his reputation dragged through the mud. He pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty, meaning he made a mistake. He was not found guilty of stealing, nor was it proven. This does not give the media the right, or any of you for that matter, the right to continue to slander someone’s name saying they are corrupt and g…See More

Ok look here people. For one, NONE of you know the WHOLE story. He plead guilty to dereliction of duty, which means that he made a MISTAKE. NOT that he stole it! The whole thing about “multiple suspensions” is also a load of crap! He was suspended ONCE and that was because he wrecked the cruiser. Do you know the reason why he wrecked his cruiser, I bet not so let me fill you in on why it happened. That weekend that it happened he was on his third day of a 12hr shift. Meaning that entire weekend he worked 12 hr shifts because the department was SHORT HANDED. So MY BROTHER stepped up to the plate and volunteered to work those shift’s so the city of Galion would have another Officer to protect them. If it’s anyone’s fault what happened that weekend it was the departments for being short handed! So before you ignorant people decide running your mouth about something you have no clue on, why don’t you get the facts first instead of listening to corrupted media who twist words just so they can make a dollar.

I love people who post and their post proves them wrong. Part 4a is the correct usage in this case. Thereby, Jessica is correct and you are incorrect. It’s this thing called proper English. Something that is expected of a credible published source.

When the cops are the ones breaking the laws, what kind of example does that set for everyone else? I don’t have a problem with the legal punishment, but paid leave and he gets to keep his job? That’s ridiculous.

This is hard to imagine but sadly we expect things like this. He should resign in disgrace and publicly apologize. All criminals that have been charged using evidence he obtained should request new trials as he clearly can not be trusted with evidence. I hope someone on city council will stand up and denounce this.